The present invention relates to a method for producing knitted articles with several knitting planes on a two bed flat knitting machine.
When on flat knitting machines with two opposite needle beds, knitted products are produced by latch needles or slide needles, which require several knitting planes for their productions for example hose-roundrib knitted product, hose-roundjacquard knitted product, hose-round knitted product with integrated pockets or the like, or knitted products with parallel knitted parts for example a reverse, then it has been known to form in each needle bed the stitches for the corresponding knitted product sides at most with each second needle, since empty needles located therebetween are required for producing the additional knitting planes. For example, in the empty needles the left stitches must be formed on each corresponding needle bed. Also, the knitting of the jacquard design rear side on the needle bed located opposite to the design front side is possible only by free needles. The same is true for the knitting of the knitting planes for forming a pocket rear side or a reverse of a knitted product.
Because it is necessary to release each second needle, the thusly produced knitted pieces do not correspond in their appearance to normal knitted pieces of the corresponding machine quality, in which each needle is used for stitch formation. Such knitted pieces are difficult to combine with other knitted pieces of the same machine quality, for example with sleeves. The plate stitches are substantially increased, so that the knitted pieces have a lower shape stability and a more pronounced expansion in a longitudinal direction than in a transverse direction, when compared with knitted products in which the stitches are produced with all needles.
Knitted articles with several knitting planes, in which each needle of a needle bed can be pulled for stitch production for one knitting plane, are conventionally produced only on flat knitting machines with four needle beds. Knitting machines of this type are however technically very sensitive and have a relatively high cost for a production hour, which makes more expensive the manufacture of knitted products on these machines.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a possibility of producing on a two bed flat knitting machine the knitted products with several knitting planes, wherein each needle of a needle bed can be utilized for formation of stitches for the different knitting planes.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of present invention resides, briefly stated, in a method for producing knitting articles with several knitting planes on a two bed flat knitting machine, wherein all needles of one needle bed are used for formation of stitches for one knitting plane, wherein in accordance with the invention, the following steps are performed:
for forming a further knitting plane, the stitches hanging on the knitting needles which are required for this process are taken by transfer elements which are associated with these knitting needles,
subsequently the transporting elements are offset with the stitches held on them or the associated needle bed by a half needle pitch, so that the transfer elements are located in gaps to the needles of the needle bed,
stitches are taken from the opposite needle bed by the needles released from the stitches, and stitches for another stitching plane are formed,
after ending the knitting process for the other knitting plane, the stitches of the needles are again transferred to the opposite needle bed,
the transfer elements or the associated needle bed are displaced back by a half needle pitch, so that the transfer elements are again located over the needles of the associated needle bed,
with the needle of the needle bed, stitches for the original knitting plane are again formed.
With this method it is possible to produce all knitted articles which require several knitting planes for their production, and thereby all needles of the both oppositely located needle beds can be used for the knitting process. For transferring of the stitches which are suspended on the knitting needles required for forming the further knitting plane to the transfer elements, the stitches which are suspended in the needles can be placed on the needle latch or, in the case of sliding needles, on the needle slider by needle extending and/or retracting movements, and subsequently the transfer elements can be introduced into the stitches and the needles can be pulled from the stitches, so that the stitches alone are suspended on the transfer element.
For placing the stitches on the needles for transfer by the transfer elements, several possibilities are provided. The stitches can be placed by a needle extending movement and subsequent needle retracting movement on the closed latches. The stitches can be placed however also by a needle advancing movement on the open latches of the needles. Both with the open and closed latches, the stitches are sufficiently tensioned so that the transfer elements can be introduced into the stitches.
With the use of slider needles, the stitches can be placed by a needle advancing movement with open sliders and a subsequent needle retracting movement with closed sliders, over the closed sliders. Therefore, similar conditions are provided for the transfer process as during placing of the stitches on the closed latches of the latch needles.
The present invention also deals with knitted products produced with the inventive method, in form of a hose-round-ribbed knitted product, a hose-round-jacquard knitted product, a hose-round-knitted product with knitted pocket as well as a knitted product which has a base knitted part and a reverse, whereby the reverse is produced as a parallel part to the base part. It is to be understood that also further knitted products can be produced with the inventive method.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.